Word of mouth is the flowing of information from one person
to another through oral communication, particularly one to one communication.
In the digital age this can also take place through phones, blogs, chats,
email, text/IM etc. It basically is an
epidemic which flows contagiously. Take for example a sexually transmitted
disease (STD), which engulfs the next person which comes in contact with an
already infected one. The person
contacted is influenced by the information it is exposed to, this instigates
him to forward it to someone else.
In today’s era a consumer is thrown information about
hundreds of products in a day. It is very vital to capture the space in the
minds of the customer. Word of mouth helps in creating that image because it
comes from a trusted source, one to one communication. Particularly for brands
to become from mediocre to great word of mouth becomes a very important tool.
There have been several success stories coined with word of mouth in branding;
for instance ‘Snapple’ the brand of tea and fruit juices derived its success
through word of mouth in the late 1970’s, 'Hush Puppies' the famous shoe brand showed a dramatic turnaround in the mid 1990's through word of mouth. Contagious as it is it can also have
a negative impact on the brand image for example Cadbury insect infestation
issue, coca cola having pesticides these news spread like wildfire majorly through WOM. This significantly deteriorated the brand image of existing market
leaders and costs millions to the firms.
The system is also based on referrals made by existing users
of a product. It minimizes the risk and acts like a perceived incentive to the
prospective buyer. Slowly the trust is built and word of mouth marketing sails
through. Not every individual has the potential to trigger a word of mouth
epidemic. There are some major sources which play a handy role in spreading the
message across. That source is often referred to as ‘connector’. A connector is
a person which connects many individuals, a central node through which
information can be transmitted. The important trait of the connector is its reliability.
People tend to trust these types of individuals. These are amicable people who
make friends very easily, they do not judge people, do not get prejudiced and
follows them a huge network of people.
fig.connector at the centre
Malcolm Gladwell, the renowned management thinker in his book
‘The Tipping Point’ talks of that magical moment when ideas, trends, social
behaviors cross a threshold, tip and spread like a wildfire. That tipping point
is reached, thus making the ‘word of mouth’ a phenomenon. Before this tipping
point it is basically in the process of becoming an epidemic or a viral
phenomenon.
There is no doubt that word of mouth is an efficient
marketing tool in current era of cut throat competition. But there are some
reservations expressed about it when it comes to buying an expensive product or
any technical product where expert opinion is preferred over popular sentiment.
P.S.- Required a lot research but was worth it. My first related to the field of marketing.
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nicely done
Anonymous said...
November 23, 2012 at 12:04 PM
i value the comments i receive.
its also expected that people comment with their identity.
PS thanks
Regards
Shafique Gajdhar said...
November 24, 2012 at 9:36 AM